When you've finally managed to get a large group of family or friends together for a weekend, there's a temptation to make the most of every minute. Saturday: breakfast at eight, activity at ten, lunch at twelve-thirty, historic attraction at two, back to change at five... Stop. You've organised a holiday, not a school trip.
One of the loveliest ways to plan a group weekend is surprisingly simple: choose one standout shared experience and leave plenty of room around it.
Give the Weekend a Highlight
A memorable experience gives the group something to look forward to without dominating the whole break.
In and around the Wye Valley, that might mean getting onto the River Wye, taking a guided walk, exploring a historic attraction or arranging a special food or drink experience.
Perhaps you'd rather bring the experience to your holiday house, with a private chef or somebody running an activity for your group.
The important part isn't squeezing in as much as possible.
It's choosing something people will still be talking about over dinner that evening.
Leave Space Around It
If your main experience is Saturday afternoon, don't automatically fill Saturday morning too.
Let breakfast last longer.
Take the dogs for a walk. Sit in the garden. Explore somewhere nearby. Allow different parts of the group to do their own thing.
Free time is not wasted holiday time.
Quite often, it's when the best bits happen.
Not Everyone Has to Join In
Another advantage of having just one main activity is that nobody needs to feel pressured into participating.
If twelve people want to go canoeing and six emphatically do not, that's fine.
Those six might spend the afternoon exploring Monmouth, having lunch or simply enjoying the house.
Everyone meets again later — usually with considerably more to talk about.
Make the House Part of the Experience
A large holiday house isn't simply somewhere to sleep between excursions.
It's where breakfast stretches into coffee, dinner turns into a long evening and people finally have time to catch up properly.
So rather than asking, “How much can we fit into the weekend?”, try asking:
“What's the one thing we'd really love to do together?”
Plan that.
Then give yourselves permission to enjoy everything else as it happens.
Want some inspiration for a large holiday house? Check out these lovely homes:
